Chapter 176 A Desperate Request

[Alright human… please continue to complete your missions… I heard that several other members of your department are now either retired or dead so…]

[Good job so far!]

The creature waved its bone-like claws in the air and several bluish runes appeared around Sui Li's body.

"Wait! Wait! Is there another way? I hate being…" Sui Li protested but her words were cut off as she found her body frozen in place.

[Nope]

The 'system' wore a plain white mask but somehow Sui Li got the impression that whatever was hiding behind the mask was smiling.

She struggled desperately and tried her best to escape but every single inch of her muscles was locked in place.

A noise that sounded like glass shattering echoed through the space and then a black portal formed at her feet.

Sui Li managed to force her eyebrows to move slightly, and she shot the creature a hateful look as her body fell through the portal.

The familiar process of her body being stretched, squeezed, and pulled in different directions was not pleasant.

She may not have her memories of the mission worlds but everything that happened in this strange space was still inside Sui Li's mind.

She could remember sitting down across from the original Qin Lan and Claire Blanlyn but everything else after that was a complete blank.

Without warning the inside of the portal began to shake uncontrollably from side to side. Sui Li was grateful that she was a soul otherwise she would have probably thrown up already.

Finally, the shaking stopped, and Sui Li felt her body sitting down on a hard surface.

She hesitantly opened her eyes and found herself in a tiny room no bigger than a regular bedroom with plain white walls.

Ahh… this was the place where she would meet her next host.

Sui Li glanced at the single light bulb that was hung in the center of the room which provided dim lighting and occasionally flickered.

Surely the Time Space Administration could provide a better space… this place looked shady as hell!

Sui Li adjusted her posture on the wooden chair which creaked annoyingly any time she made even the slightest movement.

​ The wooden chair opposite to her location was empty which meant that the person who she was supposed to meet was not here yet.

She waited for a few minutes in complete silence until a faint whitish cloud suddenly appeared right over the empty chair.

It took a few seconds for the white cloud to compress into the figure of a woman whose details were gradually revealed under the dim lighting.

She was young.

Sui Li at a glance estimated that the young woman was somewhere between seventeen and nineteen years old.

The mysterious teenager was extremely beautiful with sharp angular features, a cute button nose and enchantingly pale skin.

Her eyes were a piercing green colour and she possessed long flowing dark hair that fell below her shoulders.

The teenager's body was unnaturally skinny as if she had been starved for several days without proper food or water.

There was a brief moment of silence in the room as both parties stared at each other without saying a single word.

Just as Sui Li was staring at the young teenager, she was also staring at the woman sitting down across from her.

"Are… are you the one who can fulfil my wish?" the teenager finally spoke in a hoarse tone.

"Yes. In exchange for the right to use your body to complete my mission, I can fulfil any request that you have," Sui Li explained politely.

"Your mission?" the teenager asked with confusion evident on her face.

"My name is Sui Li, and I am a member of a department responsible for eliminating threats to worlds," Sui Li spoke with a confidence that she did not feel.

"Oh…I see… so you need my body to enter my world?" the teenager muttered quietly.

The young girl nodded her head thoughtfully and her fingers lightly tapped against the side of her wooden chair.

Sui Li knew that she was probably digesting the information that she had just heard.

She wasn't sure how time worked in this strange place, but she was content to allow the teenager to take as long as she needed to think about a request.

It was a big deal after all.

"I… I have one regret… do you have the time to listen to my story," the teenager finally spoke after a few minutes had passed.

"Sure… take as long as you need," Sui Li warmly replied as she held the girl's hands and shot her a comforting look.

"Thank you… I have not said my name yet… it's Mary Brooks…" the teenager smiled sweetly and did not remove her palms from Sui Li's grip.

She seemed to get some courage from the warm touch of another person, and it helped her speak about her story which was quite a painful one.

"I… did not have a happy home… my dad he used to beat me and my sister quite a lot," Mary hesitantly spoke.

"We… we... managed to earn scholarships to universities on the other side of the country and I truly believed at that time that everything would get better…"

"We… had our whole lives ahead of us… we didn't want revenge on our father… we simply wanted to escape from him…"

"And yet…"

May frowned as an expression of rage and pain flashed across her face. She took a few deep breaths and for a brief moment Sui Li could see a horrific wound on the side of her head.

The wound quickly vanished as the teenage girl got her emotions under control.

"He sold us… on the last day before our train was set to arrive… he drugged and sold us to be blood slaves…" Mary whispered in a trembling tone.

"Blood slaves… our own father sold us to those monsters… I didn't know at the time and thought that we had been kidnapped."

"On the way to the northern region… my sister sacrificed herself so that I could escape… I returned home and wanted to tell my father to alert the hunter's organization…"

"He… he…"

Mary's voice cut off as the wound on her head appeared once more.

It did not take a genius to realise what her father had done after his daughter had returned home trying to get help.

Sui Li got up from her chair and pulled the young girl into a warm embrace. The people who were willing to give up their bodies did not have happy lives.

"I'm sorry… I'm truly sorry… I know that my words can't change what happened to you, but I want you to know that none of it is your fault," Sui Li comforted the girl gently.

"My sister… please… make sure that she is the one who escapes… not me…" Mary sobbed tearfully as she buried her head in Sui Li's shoulder.

"I promise," Sui Li solemnly swore as a strange energy flowed from Mary's body and into her soul.

Deep blue runes appeared out of thin air and surrounded both of their bodies. Sui Li was once again frozen in place as the flow of the strange energy intensified.

The pact had been made.

Beneath her feet another black portal appeared, and Sui Li saw Mary look at her with a relieved expression on her youthful face.

"Thank you," Mary whispered softly.